


Always

by tiny_maus_boots



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Chaubrey - Freeform, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 16:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18920539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiny_maus_boots/pseuds/tiny_maus_boots
Summary: “I have something big to tell you but I don’t know how.”





	Always

Song accompaniment: “[Night So Long](https://open.spotify.com/track/34coTrM6Wi0SAw93tjbZmq?si=ltzdESJMSsaif4U9HIr7Qw)” by HAIM

* * *

 

“I have something big to tell you but I don’t know how.”

Aubrey looked up from where she had been nuzzling Chloe’s belly and raised a brow. It sounded serious and she wondered if this was going to be the day. Would today be the day that she had to finally let go so Chloe could be with someone else? It had been a long time in the coming, maybe since the first time they fell into bed together freshman year. This was never really going to be a thing and it was never supposed to last longer than the night.

But it had. It had lasted all through college and a few years past it with several boyfriends between them. Some of them long term, some of them passing fancies, but none of them ever as meaningful as the friendship Bree shared with Chloe. Aubrey slowly eased her body back up the bed to be even with her friend. “This sounds heavy.” Her hand grazed over the redhead’s hip, barely ghosting over her skin already trying to commit the feel of Chloe to memory.

Chloe bit her lip and rolled to her side to face the woman she had spent her entire adult life supporting in some way or another. Because she was upset, because she was scared, because she was lonely, because she always seemed to know the right words every single time, because she was a champion, because she was strong. Because she was beautiful. Because she was amazing. Because…

Because she loved her.

No matter how Chloe felt about what they were to each other, Aubrey loved her. Even when Chloe left Aubrey’s to go home to her boyfriend. Even…even when Chloe fell in love with Beca. Aubrey had loved her.   “It doesn’t have to be. It could be good. For both of us.”

It didn’t instill any confidence in her, hearing those words. Aubrey gave a slow nod mentally slammed down six inch thick steel walls around her heart. “Did Beca and Jesse finally break up?” She thought it would be better to head it off and just ask out right but the second the question fell from her lips her stomach churned in a tornado of unrest.

Chloe blinked in confusion a few times then shook her head. “What? No…I don’t…no. Why would you even think that?”

Her breath eased out of lungs that were tight with anticipation. “I just. I don’t know. You sounded so serious and the most serious thing I could think of right now?” She gave a flustered shrug and gestured to their naked bodies still warm and flushed with efforts of their lovemaking. “Serious talk wasn’t where my mind was two seconds ago. Still trying to catch up.”

“Okay well. They’re not breaking up, at least not that I know of.” Something flashed in Chloe’s eyes but Aubrey chose to ignore because she knew how Chloe felt. It wasn’t at all hard to understand, Beca just had this way about her. A swagger and confidence that was both alluring and maddening and honestly Aubrey had found herself just as drawn, just as in awe of Beca as Chloe did. It was hard not to be and after years of building a real friendship with the small brunette she could finally admit that Beca and Chloe would be perfect for each other. They could be happy and have something real, something more than casual boyfriends and twice monthly wild ‘girl’s night out’ that always led to an intense girl’s night  _in_.

“So…then what’s so big?” If it wasn’t Jesse and Beca it couldn’t be that important. There was nothing between them that they couldn’t or hadn’t talked about. That’s what being best friends was about, being there for everything and knowing all the ups and downs of your bestie’s life.

“Tom proposed to me this morning.”

Her heart stopped beating as the words sunk in.  _Tom proposed_. There was an entire list of things she had been prepared to hear, including accidental pregnancy, but that was definitely not on the list. It took several long seconds before her heart decided to resume but it felt hollow as she laid there struggling with words that should mean something but mostly tasted like ash in her mouth.

“Chlo…that’s amazing. I didn’t realize you guys had gotten that serious…oh my God why didn’t you call me right away? I would have planned…”

Chloe’s lips on hers stopped anything else that would have come out and she didn’t know why she was surprised about the reaction, they had been doing a lot more than kissing moments a go. But she was and the pain that came with such a sweet kiss threatened to burst past the steel trap she’d caged her heart in. Because of course Chloe waited. She wanted this one last time with Aubrey because  _of course_  she would accept the proposal.

It was the logical next step and she would support Chloe in that even if it meant the end of them as whatever this was. So she kissed back with everything she couldn’t say. Seven years of I love yous, a million different I need yous, and a single heartbroken I’ll miss you. Aubrey let herself fall into the kiss because it was all she was ever going to have left even though it just felt wrong now. “I don’t want to lose you Aubrey. You’re my best friend.”

She knew what the words were. Knew each of their meaning individually but put together in a sentence all she heard was ‘I’m leaving you’.

“I’ll always be here Chloe. We’ll always be best friends.” It was the biggest lie she had ever told anyone and the only lie she had ever told Chloe. And to her immense relief the other woman seemed to believe it, melting into Aubrey’s body with a soft sigh and another kiss more demanding than the last. She went along with it, matching the need and intensity of it with her own kisses and desperate touches because in the morning this would all be different. So she seared every detail of their night into her memory. Every soft gasp, every quivering breath, every taste, every moment…she burned them into her heart because she never wanted to forget what she had.

And when Chloe had drifted off into an exhausted slumber, Aubrey held her close and finally said the truth she would never utter again. “I’ll always be yours.”


End file.
